***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[jcatblum]

Egg eating snakes are busy already! DD took down 18 boiled eggs & made "nest" for the guineas. She still collected 7 guinea eggs today but 10 of the decoy eggs are missing. This yr looks like I will be battling the snakes same as last. Promised DD I would check for eggs multiple times during the day in hopes of catching the snake or at least getting the eggs first.

Been thinking about sorting through the birds & separating them in a different way. Now way in the world can I mention we need more pens. DH might jus loose it! It is all the silly rooster aggression that has me rethinking the current set up. I have 5 roosters & about 50 hens or pullets in the lean too of the barn & somehow they still can't share! I don't want to get rid of any of the Roos I like all 5, I just want them to get along. Is that too much to ask? My Roos that I have in their own breeding pens will even fight with my other Roos through the fencing. Boys have no self control sometimes.

 

[artsyrobin]

glad you mentioned the guinea eggs, there were 18, down to 13, so i pulled half- hope they'll still trust me...

 

[jcatblum]

glad you mentioned the guinea eggs, there were 18, down to 13, so i pulled half- hope they'll still trust me...

Last yr anytime snakes ate the guineas eggs they instantly moved their nest. I wet as far one time to put bird netting around a nest to keep the snakes out. Snake got in but couldn't get out. We are also putting moth balls around to help with the snakes.

 

[mjgigax]

Cowboy has some NN chicks, not sure if he is parting with any, but he also has eggs. I will be hatching some NN & if timing works out I could bring some to poops & maybe someone could get them your way Kass. I know it is awful to loose birds you have so much invested into emotionally & it has been a roller coaster ride already! Don't worry! We will all do our best to make sure you end up with the chicks you wanted if the hatchery doesn't come through for you!

Yes, we all know how excited you were waiting for them and we know what it is like to loose babies. It is a mission - NNs for Kass!
Easy for me to say - I have Cochins (and 1 Americana)

 

[mjgigax]

What kind of chick are you wanting in splash? I have splash marans chicks I would be happy to bring you a few if they are even close to what you are wanting.

I've had a couple Splash Cochin chicks hatch! Should I bring them to POOPS?

I have a Birth/Hatch anouncement-
There is one chick out and 2 pipped in my incubator!!!!! - These are the first I have hatched myself!

 

[sjarvis00]

MJ - When we are going to be around each other again remind me to get you some pear butter. I know you asked about it last year and I still have plenty left.

 

[BlanchardOK]

Kass I dont know who brought them but at the Blanchard auction it they had NN chicks - I picked up 2 and pending breeding can have some for you next year. (lol)

 

[mjgigax]

Seems like when I have my day all planned out, something here on the farm interrupts my plans.
I intended to work in the garden today to get the corn planted and to clean out one more box for more tomatoes.....but...I really can't complain....they did build me a wonderful hen house expansion.

In late spring, we begin bringing the herd up to the barn lot to get them used to coming into the lot, then pen them and sort the calves out for vaccinations, etc. We did this last week with the first 11 pair and took those to pasture.
Today all the cows with calves followed the feed truck into the lot the very first time and the boys closed the gate behind them. Since we have pasture rented that has grass, the boys decided it woud be a great day to tag, band and vaccinate all those calves. We number tag our calves and match the calf number to the cow so when we move them, we take the right pairs. Of course, I didn't have the tags number coded yet. It didn't take long, I did have the 8:1 vaccinations already in the fridge and had the Ivomec here too. We spent the morning taking care of the calves and then spent time matching the pairs. Only lack four cows our of the 25 worked today and will do that this evening when the calves nurse.
We will move those pairs to pasture with a bull later this week.

We still have almost 40 cows to calve this year...so there will be another round-up in late summer and one in mid fall.

I used to feed Deacon calves for my Dad. He never like to use a bottle or a pail with a nipple, had to put my thumb in the calve's mouth and down into a bucket of calf milk. Usually they were so hungry they didn't notice when I took my thumb out of the bucket and they were using the pail without it the next day.They are as cute as chicks

 

[poultryand bees]

Mitzi I Hope that the turkeys go to a great new home. I kept saying I was getting rid of oldest DD peafowl.... Been saying it for wks. Now when I think about it I know we will all miss them. The peacock is very entertaining. He gets excited & hops around in his pen & then of course we all enjoy watching him display! My peahen is boring though She doesn't talk to us, she never wants to see me, the peacock is by far my favorite! Much more personality! Plus my girls LOVED making hairbows & earrings out of the peacock tail feathers. Come July we will have our feather supply replenished if I hold onto him!

How do you treat the feathers so that they don't acquire mites and disintegrate after harvest?

Man wish my atwoods had keets - even for 5 bucks! I have four french keets but looking for another blood line to make sure they are okay to grow out a small flock.... shoot now I am going to have to go to atwoods today!

Last year, I got impatient for keets and bought about 30 at auctions for a premium price in April. Later, in May and June, I was able to buy slightly older keets for the same price and was kicking myself for buying the day olds since they didn't have as high a survival rate as the older keets did.

 

[BlanchardOK]

How do you treat the feathers so that they don't acquire mites and disintegrate after harvest?



Last year, I got impatient for keets and bought about 30 at auctions for a premium price in April. Later, in May and June, I was able to buy slightly older keets for the same price and was kicking myself for buying the day olds since they didn't have as high a survival rate as the older keets did.

AWESOME - Will keep that in mind - they say good things come to those who wait right?